Who changed it to 20%

[Amethyst]

So funny, and so just. And have you ever had one of those servers, who make a funny-not-funny comment about the calories in your dessert? I have!

if you are super pushy, rude or flirt with my BF I will give them 10%.

 

[Rianne]

I usually do 20% then round the total bill down.... it the bill is $24.64, 20% would be $4.92 but I'll tip $4.36 so the total bill is $29.00. While it looks like that is "only" a 17.7% tip it is really more since the $24.64 includes rooms and meals tax so the meals alone is more like $23 so the tip is really 18.9%.

I prefer that the slip I sign be even dollars.... sometimes the server gets a bit more and sometimes a bit less.

So, you must pay and tip on your CC. Or do you mess with the change and put on $4.36 on the table? I always tip in cash. Nothing like cash in hand for waitstaff. And I always tip up, if the waitperson was good. Bill is $28.46, I tip $6.00 cash. If they were excellent, $7 or $8. If wp was bad, $4 or $5 depending on how bad.

Waitstaff makes $2, $3 maybe $4/hour from establishment? Bartenders earn more per hour. If a bar tab was $25 and it took them 1 minute to make the drink and put it in front of you, no conversation, no smile...I tip very little.

 

[pacergal]

I must be way behind or very disliked by waitstaff, as I am still firmly in the 10-15%normal, 20 % excellent service category.
We don't eat in many sit down spots, but I have noticed more of the 18/20/22% suggestions, so I guess I should move it up a bit.

 

[Cobra9777]

My default is still 15%, rounded up. Since it's calculated with tax, it's effectively anywhere from 16 to 18%. If the service was exceptional, I will round up a few dollars to around 20%. If service was bad, I may round down a bit, but that is rare.

 

[timo2]

If you can't afford the tip, don't eat out is my motto.

We try to tip cash, especially for deliveries and services, as tip and wage theft in the food industry appears to be rampant, and the workers sometimes are not getting the tips we leave.

I tip 20% on the bill, not on tax. Especially at places I frequent. I don't want to get known as a bad tipper.

I think it went up because wages for workers have stagnated for so long the increase to 20% counted as a raise.

 

[wmc1000]

Hmmm, Let's see, DW and I would go out when we were first married very occasionally and it would cost us around $15-$20 and we would leave a $2-$3 tip. Nowadays those same meals would cost us around $50-$60 and we leave $8-$12 tip.

Therefore meal costs have increased approximately 300% and tip costs have increased 400%. Seems like an average $15% tip has yielded the waitstaff a large enough increase.

Yes, all 3 of our daughters has worked at restaurants when they were first in the job market.

I guess I am a grumpy old man.

 

[sengsational]

Ah, the tipping thread again, where everyone gets to express how generous or how logistical they are, hehe!

Does it matter what the minimum tipped wage is? In Michigan for example, it is still $3.50, whereas here in Washington it is $13.50

That's the point that comes to mind with me too. To be 'fair', you would need to tip less in the $13.50 zone or more in the $3.50 zone. Ah, but then you realize that the employer is required by law to make up the difference between what the employee earned and minimum wage, so, at the low-end place, if nobody tipped, the employer would make up the difference. So are we just subsidizing the employer?



I call for the repeal of tipping! Does anyone want to second the motion?

 

[mickeyd]

When I was waiting tables in Tampa many years ago, I was happy to receive a 15% tip. Greed has evidently driven that number up to 20% of a larger number! Yet, service is no better than when I hustled for 15%.

I am unsure when it elevated to 20%, or who authorized the increase. There should be an investigation!

 

[samclem]

I tip between 15% and 20% (on the price of the meal, no tax), and above that at diners, etc. where food is cheap but service is full.

And I guess I'm a jerk: I always put the tip on my credit card. That's the best way to assure the employer pays their half of the employee's SS and Medicare taxes, it costs the employee no more than if I'd tipped in cash (if they are complying with the tax laws), and it is more convenient for everyone. I'm not especially interested in helping anyone cheat on their taxes, and if they aren't cheating then cash isn't an advantage.

For many low-income workers (which includes a lot of tipped employees), SS winds up being a huge % of their retirement income, and it may be the only disability insurance they've got. For folks who don't earn a lot, SS is a pretty good deal, and making sure they get the benefit they should (by paying in what they should) is, IMO, a good thing.

 

[Amethyst]

Cui bono? We can be reasonably sure that it was not a grassroots effort by customers.

More likely, employers, and to a far lesser extent servers, have made successful peer-pressure efforts to change the norm to 20%: by printing "suggested amounts" on receipts, by passing around comments about "how hard servers work" on social media, and so on. A similar campaign is ongoing for the benefit of hotel housekeepers. For some reason, I don't think the housekeepers are behind it.

At any rate, 20% is the norm now, and we can each decide whether to comply.

I am unsure when it elevated to 20%, or who authorized the increase.

 

[CaliKid]

I would only tip 15% if it's below average service. I would say 20% is the default for me and has been for a long time. I should add that I am good at math so it's not a lazy thing for me. Lol.

 

[Sue J]

I don't eat out often but I always pay cash and I tip at least 20% and then round up.

Recently met my sister for lunch and I always chuckle as she talks out loud when computing the 15% tip on her pre-tax bill. This is the sister who cruises 3 or 4 times a year and they can't spend enough to use up their monthly income.

Aww, I shouldn't gripe, they are generous in other ways, just not in tipping.

 

[24601NoMore]

My default is still 15%, rounded up. Since it's calculated with tax, it's effectively anywhere from 16 to 18%. If the service was exceptional, I will round up a few dollars to around 20%. If service was bad, I may round down a bit, but that is rare.

Ditto. If we eat at a casual restaurant (eg: Chilis), I leave 15% of the total bill (including tax) for good service. Nice restaurants generally get a little more. Especially if the service is exemplary or if we've come to know the server over time and are repeat customers..I'm probably in the minority, but don't do 20% unless the service is really out of the ordinary.

I'm definitely in the camp, though, who doesn't think tipping 20% (or even 15%) should necessarily be a "given". Taking an order and carrying food to a table is not that difficult. A tip used to be for service above and beyond, not just for doing what you're expected to do.

 

[mountainsoft]

I must be way behind or very disliked by waitstaff, as I am still firmly in the 10-15%normal, 20 % excellent service category.

I have to say there are a lot of big spenders here. Must be nice. I would have to receive really exceptional service before I'm going to tip anyone 20% for anything. The whole idea of tipping annoys me, but I usually take about 10% of the bill then round up to the next $5 or so for the total bill. Even numbers are easier for me to deal with, and I let them calculate what the tip is from my total. I don't know what percentage that works out to, but it's a tip I feel comfortable with and can figure out easily.

Yeah, I'm a cheapskate, but I don't earn much more than waitstaff and nobody is tipping me 20%. The way I see it, if I had to tip 20% I wouldn't eat out. Would you rather receive 10% from a paying customer, or 0% because I couldn't afford to eat out? Several low tipping customers is going to be more profitable than a few big tippers.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

We tip between 10% and 15%

 

[Texas Proud]

If you can't afford the tip, don't eat out is my motto.

We try to tip cash, especially for deliveries and services, as tip and wage theft in the food industry appears to be rampant, and the workers sometimes are not getting the tips we leave.

I tip 20% on the bill, not on tax. Especially at places I frequent. I don't want to get known as a bad tipper.

I think it went up because wages for workers have stagnated for so long the increase to 20% counted as a raise.

I can afford the tip, just that I think that the ever increasing tip amount is not what I need to pay...


BTW, it is a TIP... not a bill... there are states now that require a regular wage to the servers and they still expect a 'full' tip? Mine is not one of them so I do tip servers.... I do not tip at fast food or fast casual where I am not served.... if I carry my food to a table I am getting that tip...

 

[Potstickers]

20% at most restaurants, unless the service is terrible.

I tend to leave a much larger percentage tip if we stop for something light (coffee + soup/ pie) if we're sitting at a table/booth. $4/5 on a $10 tab. We also tip a lot more heavily if we get a delivery order in crummy weather.

I'm glad to be in a position where we can make someone's day a little nicer that way.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

When did we forget it is OPTIONAL!

 

[HI Bill]

Yea, it has just been the last 10 or 15 years. Hardly forever. I usually do something between 15 and 20%.

+1. For average service, I give 15%, for great service 20%, for below average, but barely acceptable, 10%, for walk-up order counters, $1-2, and for terrible service, 0%. Being a little bit too frugal, I do enjoy travelling to places where people don't tip (e.g., Japan, etc.).

 

[North Texas Cajun]

Tips automatically added to bill

Just got back from a Miami Beach vacation. We ate at a dozen or more South Beach restaurants. Every one added an automatic 18% tip to our bill. Some clearly pointed that out. Others hid the explanation in tiny print.I don’t see this in the Dallas area, and don’t remember it on the five U.S. vacations we took last year.

 

[iloveyoga]

At least 20% of the total bill. I waited tables as a young mom many years ago and that was the standard then too.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Just got back from a Miami Beach vacation. We ate at a dozen or more South Beach restaurants. Every one added an automatic 18% tip to our bill. Some clearly pointed that out. Others hid the explanation in tiny print.I don’t see this in the Dallas area, and don’t remember it on the five U.S. vacations we took last year.

We found that in several Key West restaurants, too, but it was still just a suggested amount for our party of four. You could actually tip whatever amount you chose.

I wonder if waiters really notice individual tips if they are not extremely low or extremely high; I think we can all do what we feel is good. I have been known to quietly give an extra $20 to the restaurant person cleaning the war-zone on and beneath our table after a meal with our young grandchildren, regardless of the cost of the meal.

 

[iloveyoga]

We found that in several Key West restaurants, too, but it was still just a suggested amount for our party of four. You could actually tip whatever amount you chose.

I wonder if waiters really notice individual tips if they are not extremely low or extremely high; I think we can all do what we feel is good. I have been known to quietly give an extra $20 to the restaurant person cleaning the war-zone on and beneath our table after a meal with our young grandchildren, regardless of the cost of the meal.

They definitely notice

 

[timo2]

Just got back from a Miami Beach vacation. We ate at a dozen or more South Beach restaurants. Every one added an automatic 18% tip to our bill. Some clearly pointed that out. Others hid the explanation in tiny print.I don’t see this in the Dallas area, and don’t remember it on the five U.S. vacations we took last year.

Yes, I noticed that about Miami Beach when I was there a few years ago. They add the 18%, then add a line for you to write in the tip. It looks like a regular bill. People (particularly in dark bars and restaurants) can be tricked into leaving an additional amount.

 

[foxfirev5]

I'm actually struggling with this topic. The level of service IMHO has diminished in the last few years. I was always a 20+ tipper but my last few experiences have left me unfulfilled. I guess it's the way it is. Maybe 3% unemployment is a factor but I'm glad I don't frequent restaurants much.